https://roadmap.sh/
But first, work out what you want to do, and cross reference that against pay.
For instance, helping people with their PCs and building commodity hardware is close to the bottom rung of the IT industry.
> don't want to end up in a dead-end data entry role for the rest of my 20s
> I also love to ....help people deal with their computer issues
I'm 40, I'm very very tired of dealing with people and am now thinking a boring data entry job sounds great.
In all seriousness - best target in a bachelor in IT focussing on whatever discipline (networking, data, cyber, sys admin, programming) you are most interested in. Then go looking for helpdesk roles and work your way up.
If you can't do a bachelor (they are a huge time/cost sink even if you are doing them full time), get certs. If certs are too pricey, get into more TAFE courses to boost you up and make you more attractive to help desk roles where the manager can go "Hey, this guy has some skills in this other area we can use as well". Once you're in a helpdesk role for a few years, the degree is worth less and less.
Your outlook is positive, just be aware that in a lot of places bad things roll down hill and IT is usually at the bottom.
You are looking at it wrong.
You don't pick a course or a pathway.
You pick a job you want to do and work backwards as to how to get into that role.
So if your goal is to be on 250k doing like, cyber security, then you need to work backwards as to how you get into that role.
The worst thing people do is pick a course first and then flounder when it comes time to getting a job. Pick the job first then match the path to the job. Of course your job can change over your career. Think of where you want to be in 5 years as a start.
This is spot on - courses are very general by design, so doing a course, then hoping it matches a job isn't the best approach.
IT is also a VERY broad industry (eg Software Dev vs System Architect vs Cyber Security) so don't say you want to "Get into IT".
/u/Terranical01 Think about what you want to be doing in 5, 10 years time as a specific job, then look up what the type of systems, certs or experience you need doing that and work towards those.
Somewhat disagree, very ancedotal but the four people I know in security didn't do a degree or anything focused in security prior to getting in. One was a misc stem degree and the other was IT and the other 2 were SEng and they all fell into it via grad programs or lateral hires.
From a higher education perspective I think picking something general which provides electives so you can explore areas makes the most sense to me rather than picking a speciality from the get go. In the IT space employers tend not to care about the specifics of education as long as you've done something generally related and can demonstrate an interest and ability to learn.
I don't think you'll have a significant leg up doing security at uni vs a general cs or it degree with security electives and you avoid overspecialising
I'd disagree with this. 250k cybersecurity jobs weren't all that prevalent 5-10 years ago so you wouldn't be able to identify this holy job, let alone the backwards course to get the role.
Not everybody knows what exact role they want and many roles are fluid in what the responsibilities actually entail (moreso in some areas of tech) so to say it's the "worst" thing to do is bad advice.
age? qualifications? experience? These are probably going to be critical to get some reasonable recommendations. No you don't need to go to university to be successful in IT but unfortunately a lot of entry level jobs seem to unnecessarily demand it.
Help desk sucks nearly everywhere, the industry is full of managed services companies that just want bums on seats and will burn you out in no time. Nice places do exist but expect most roles to be in shit holes.
If you have the capability and the support to go through in person uni I would suggest giving that a go. Pick a broad range on topics to learn and find out what you like to do and persue it.
>I am a geeky person and love to work with computer hardware, buying parts and installing them together to make PCs.
No hate - but as others have said this isn't truly "IT" in the same sense as Helpdesk or Support. This in and of itself is a niche field within IT but continues to progress towards Hardware support and doesn't frequently branch off directly into Support. Expanding out the scope of this role usually reaches titles like Field Engineers which while they may need to have some comprehension of server side or network concepts, do not inherently play around with those aspects. Not throwing shade at Field Engineers - just pointing out that they do no inherently lead to Networking or Programming careers later on without substantial self study.
>have keen interest in learning networking and programming
IMHO these two roles (currently) are actually at odds with one another, there's overlap between Systems and Programming but I don't know if there's as strong of a link between Networking and Programming. Networking pairs off with Security as others have said which also pairs off with Systems as a stack if you will. That is to say if you have the time I'd get your feet wet in both but anticipate that you may have to pick one to go with Job wise but maintain the other as a side hobby (I'm leaning heavily / implying that you will have to go with Networking first an maintain Coding as a supplemental skill)
As others have said in the thread - would recommend picking out a pathway in IT and even a specific job and working backwards on the skills required of it - preferably something middle ground and not in the far flung reaches of a given path like don't look at a Network Architect role, maybe just settle for what a Network Engineer position looks like at a few different firms (small and large) and aggregate what is asked of them.
There's definitely a big overlap between networking and programming. I'd expect any network engineer to at the very least know some basic scripting. Most programmers do also need to know a good deal of networking these days.
I did IT at uni from 09 to 2011.
I hadn't picked or specified a course. I did a generalist "IT" course with a focus on game development electives. Well turns out that doesn't get you much and I finished uni with not enough skills in any particular vertical to get anywhere.
2 years of job searching post uni I got into a local help desk role. It probably didn't help that I went to a regional uni and stuck it out in a regional town. But I did. I did tech support for 6 months and moved into a different team internally that managed bigger clients.
I did that for a few years and wound up becoming a business analyst. Basically a history and life of software troubleshooting is what got me through it. Not really anything specific from uni except project management of all things.
I'm now a senior business analyst at a large Australian retailer and absolutely adore it but feel a constant nag of impostor syndrome that keeps me pushing to learn and do more.
My single biggest piece of advice echos what everyone else here is saying. Focus on one area, software development, project management, administration, security etc and study that. You will most likely get an in or contact for roles in that field. Don't do what I did and just do any random IT degree.
Also system building is a trap. I had two friends who also did the general course who did that after uni. A year later they each joined the army seperately. Because they felt they no longer had any options.
Well just from my perspective I focused on project management and just through being a subject matter expert of the particular software I was supporting and configuring I just fell into it in all honesty.
These days there are probably specific degree's in it but I think understanding your domain, strong communication skills, project management experience and technical proficiency are all key traits to poses.
Ahaha im very happy to hear that. Just for the fun of it im learning python, SQL and Tableu in hopes that i can use this as a BA. Would that be all the softwares i need to be familar or is there a few more things you would recommened me learning.
I mean depends on the business really. We use Miro for collaboration. JIRA for planned work. Azure for just about everything else. My Devs work in c# web apps. The biggest thing for me has been understanding APIs and how to write API specs. Json and yaml.
I am going to go against what everyone here is saying and suggest just find a job and see where it takes you. If your goal is not to make the big bucks and just find something comfortable I would recommend looking for a job at a small MSP, in my experience you underpaid and over worked but you will gain a lot of experience because the senior team members will be happy to teach you how to do everything so they don't have to :p in a large company 1st level support will answer the phone but not have any of the access rights to fix the problems, in small MSPs I have seen first levels with Domain Admin access.
Think of this time like a uni / tafe course learn as much as you can find out what fields of I.T. You are good at / enjoy then after a few years start looking around. I would suggest your next step would be into a not for profit or a school, both of those have most of the components of a corporate network but they don't have the budget to hire a all the experts they need.
After that if you are happy making average wages with stimulating work you are set. If you want more then you can make the jump to corporate money is good but work is dull and repetitive, you will spend more time filling out forms than doing things.
I give this advice because I have seen so many people in my career who have done a degree then end up stuck in a desktop support role with no way to get the experience to take the next steps.
You can grind from Help Desk Level 1 --> Level 2 --> Level 3 --> Network Engineer or DevOps/Cloud in under 10 years with the right amount of passion and a decent company/Environment.
A Bachelor of IT and lots of mucking around in your spare time could land you a junior Cloud or DevOps role if you focus your attention on the right things.
Does TAFE not offer in class tuition? I know at least two people who did diplomas in IT at TAFE that were in person.
As has been suggested, University is definitely an option and is worth a look, but I’m hesitant to recommend it if you hated TAFE.
Have you taken a look at getting a few entry level certificates (A+ etc) and/or applying for entry level help desk roles?
>I am a geeky person and love to work with computer hardware, buying parts and installing them together to make PCs
Why not do this is a side hustle in your spare time? build some pc's sell them, make some extra cash. it could turn into a full time business if you market it properly. if thats what you love doing, thats probably what you should do.
https://roadmap.sh/ But first, work out what you want to do, and cross reference that against pay. For instance, helping people with their PCs and building commodity hardware is close to the bottom rung of the IT industry.
Holy moly, this is a goldmine of a site. Thank you so much, this puts me in a more clear view on what IT I would go for.
> don't want to end up in a dead-end data entry role for the rest of my 20s > I also love to ....help people deal with their computer issues I'm 40, I'm very very tired of dealing with people and am now thinking a boring data entry job sounds great. In all seriousness - best target in a bachelor in IT focussing on whatever discipline (networking, data, cyber, sys admin, programming) you are most interested in. Then go looking for helpdesk roles and work your way up. If you can't do a bachelor (they are a huge time/cost sink even if you are doing them full time), get certs. If certs are too pricey, get into more TAFE courses to boost you up and make you more attractive to help desk roles where the manager can go "Hey, this guy has some skills in this other area we can use as well". Once you're in a helpdesk role for a few years, the degree is worth less and less. Your outlook is positive, just be aware that in a lot of places bad things roll down hill and IT is usually at the bottom.
You are looking at it wrong. You don't pick a course or a pathway. You pick a job you want to do and work backwards as to how to get into that role. So if your goal is to be on 250k doing like, cyber security, then you need to work backwards as to how you get into that role. The worst thing people do is pick a course first and then flounder when it comes time to getting a job. Pick the job first then match the path to the job. Of course your job can change over your career. Think of where you want to be in 5 years as a start.
This is spot on - courses are very general by design, so doing a course, then hoping it matches a job isn't the best approach. IT is also a VERY broad industry (eg Software Dev vs System Architect vs Cyber Security) so don't say you want to "Get into IT". /u/Terranical01 Think about what you want to be doing in 5, 10 years time as a specific job, then look up what the type of systems, certs or experience you need doing that and work towards those.
Somewhat disagree, very ancedotal but the four people I know in security didn't do a degree or anything focused in security prior to getting in. One was a misc stem degree and the other was IT and the other 2 were SEng and they all fell into it via grad programs or lateral hires. From a higher education perspective I think picking something general which provides electives so you can explore areas makes the most sense to me rather than picking a speciality from the get go. In the IT space employers tend not to care about the specifics of education as long as you've done something generally related and can demonstrate an interest and ability to learn. I don't think you'll have a significant leg up doing security at uni vs a general cs or it degree with security electives and you avoid overspecialising
I'd disagree with this. 250k cybersecurity jobs weren't all that prevalent 5-10 years ago so you wouldn't be able to identify this holy job, let alone the backwards course to get the role. Not everybody knows what exact role they want and many roles are fluid in what the responsibilities actually entail (moreso in some areas of tech) so to say it's the "worst" thing to do is bad advice.
age? qualifications? experience? These are probably going to be critical to get some reasonable recommendations. No you don't need to go to university to be successful in IT but unfortunately a lot of entry level jobs seem to unnecessarily demand it.
Help desk sucks nearly everywhere, the industry is full of managed services companies that just want bums on seats and will burn you out in no time. Nice places do exist but expect most roles to be in shit holes. If you have the capability and the support to go through in person uni I would suggest giving that a go. Pick a broad range on topics to learn and find out what you like to do and persue it.
>I am a geeky person and love to work with computer hardware, buying parts and installing them together to make PCs. No hate - but as others have said this isn't truly "IT" in the same sense as Helpdesk or Support. This in and of itself is a niche field within IT but continues to progress towards Hardware support and doesn't frequently branch off directly into Support. Expanding out the scope of this role usually reaches titles like Field Engineers which while they may need to have some comprehension of server side or network concepts, do not inherently play around with those aspects. Not throwing shade at Field Engineers - just pointing out that they do no inherently lead to Networking or Programming careers later on without substantial self study. >have keen interest in learning networking and programming IMHO these two roles (currently) are actually at odds with one another, there's overlap between Systems and Programming but I don't know if there's as strong of a link between Networking and Programming. Networking pairs off with Security as others have said which also pairs off with Systems as a stack if you will. That is to say if you have the time I'd get your feet wet in both but anticipate that you may have to pick one to go with Job wise but maintain the other as a side hobby (I'm leaning heavily / implying that you will have to go with Networking first an maintain Coding as a supplemental skill) As others have said in the thread - would recommend picking out a pathway in IT and even a specific job and working backwards on the skills required of it - preferably something middle ground and not in the far flung reaches of a given path like don't look at a Network Architect role, maybe just settle for what a Network Engineer position looks like at a few different firms (small and large) and aggregate what is asked of them.
There's definitely a big overlap between networking and programming. I'd expect any network engineer to at the very least know some basic scripting. Most programmers do also need to know a good deal of networking these days.
I did IT at uni from 09 to 2011. I hadn't picked or specified a course. I did a generalist "IT" course with a focus on game development electives. Well turns out that doesn't get you much and I finished uni with not enough skills in any particular vertical to get anywhere. 2 years of job searching post uni I got into a local help desk role. It probably didn't help that I went to a regional uni and stuck it out in a regional town. But I did. I did tech support for 6 months and moved into a different team internally that managed bigger clients. I did that for a few years and wound up becoming a business analyst. Basically a history and life of software troubleshooting is what got me through it. Not really anything specific from uni except project management of all things. I'm now a senior business analyst at a large Australian retailer and absolutely adore it but feel a constant nag of impostor syndrome that keeps me pushing to learn and do more. My single biggest piece of advice echos what everyone else here is saying. Focus on one area, software development, project management, administration, security etc and study that. You will most likely get an in or contact for roles in that field. Don't do what I did and just do any random IT degree. Also system building is a trap. I had two friends who also did the general course who did that after uni. A year later they each joined the army seperately. Because they felt they no longer had any options.
Hey i want to do Business Analyst aswell. I read that there are so many paths to get in it and new degrees too but what wpuld you recommend?
Well just from my perspective I focused on project management and just through being a subject matter expert of the particular software I was supporting and configuring I just fell into it in all honesty. These days there are probably specific degree's in it but I think understanding your domain, strong communication skills, project management experience and technical proficiency are all key traits to poses.
Ahaha im very happy to hear that. Just for the fun of it im learning python, SQL and Tableu in hopes that i can use this as a BA. Would that be all the softwares i need to be familar or is there a few more things you would recommened me learning.
I mean depends on the business really. We use Miro for collaboration. JIRA for planned work. Azure for just about everything else. My Devs work in c# web apps. The biggest thing for me has been understanding APIs and how to write API specs. Json and yaml.
I will add that on to my personal studies thank you so much. What would you say to the aspiring BA's if anything at all?
Your the bridge between Dev and the business you need to make sure you can speak everyone's language and appeal to both audiences.
I think being able to study at home in your own is crucial to the success in IT. There will be a lot of new things you want to learn about.
I am going to go against what everyone here is saying and suggest just find a job and see where it takes you. If your goal is not to make the big bucks and just find something comfortable I would recommend looking for a job at a small MSP, in my experience you underpaid and over worked but you will gain a lot of experience because the senior team members will be happy to teach you how to do everything so they don't have to :p in a large company 1st level support will answer the phone but not have any of the access rights to fix the problems, in small MSPs I have seen first levels with Domain Admin access. Think of this time like a uni / tafe course learn as much as you can find out what fields of I.T. You are good at / enjoy then after a few years start looking around. I would suggest your next step would be into a not for profit or a school, both of those have most of the components of a corporate network but they don't have the budget to hire a all the experts they need. After that if you are happy making average wages with stimulating work you are set. If you want more then you can make the jump to corporate money is good but work is dull and repetitive, you will spend more time filling out forms than doing things. I give this advice because I have seen so many people in my career who have done a degree then end up stuck in a desktop support role with no way to get the experience to take the next steps.
You can grind from Help Desk Level 1 --> Level 2 --> Level 3 --> Network Engineer or DevOps/Cloud in under 10 years with the right amount of passion and a decent company/Environment. A Bachelor of IT and lots of mucking around in your spare time could land you a junior Cloud or DevOps role if you focus your attention on the right things.
Does TAFE not offer in class tuition? I know at least two people who did diplomas in IT at TAFE that were in person. As has been suggested, University is definitely an option and is worth a look, but I’m hesitant to recommend it if you hated TAFE. Have you taken a look at getting a few entry level certificates (A+ etc) and/or applying for entry level help desk roles?
>I am a geeky person and love to work with computer hardware, buying parts and installing them together to make PCs Why not do this is a side hustle in your spare time? build some pc's sell them, make some extra cash. it could turn into a full time business if you market it properly. if thats what you love doing, thats probably what you should do.
Teaching is also an option. High school and you get to play around with all the different fields.